Collar stay for shirts and other garments



Dec. 16, 1958 "s. G. KAss 2,864,540

COLLAR STAY FOR sums AND OTHER /GARMENTS Filed July 18, 1957 INVENTOR. SEYMOUR G. KHS

HTTURNEY United States Patent COLLAR STAY FOR SHIRTS AND OTI-ER GARMENTS This invention relates to shirt collar holders and particularly concerns an improved ad ustable holder.

It is a principal object to provide a collar holder or stay which is effectively retained in a shirt collar to preserve the shape of the collar.

It is a further objectto provide a temporary collar stay which prevents the collar of a new or laundered shirt from flattening and losing its shape.

It is a further object to provide an economical stay which can be die cut and produced by high speed mass production methods.

A further object is to provide a stay which is easily inserted in and removed from a collar and which is adjustable for various sizes of collars.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an unfolded stay embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a folded laundered or new shirt with the stay inserted in the upstanding collar of the shirt.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on lines 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the stay in folded position and showing pleats for adjustment thereof.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a fiat blank strip of cardboard or plastic material. The material of the strip should be stifily flexible. The strip has a pair of lateral generally rectangular wing sections 12 which may have serrations 14 at their free ends. The central section 15 of the strip is inwardly tapered at the top edge at 16 as viewed in Fig. 1 in symmetrical fashion. Depending from the straight bottom edge 18 of the central section is a tongue or flap 19. This flap is centrally disposed and is slit at 20 at both sides of its top end to form the narrow bridge or connecting portion 21. The flap has a wide body which may be elongated, if desired, as indicated by the dotted lines 22 in Fig. 1.

When the stay is inserted in a collar 25 of a laundered shirt 26, the tongue is bent along dotted line 23 at right angles to the flat wing structure. The body of the stay is then bent arcuately so that the serrated edges 14 snugly fit against and engage the substantially straight back inner portion 28 of the collar. The rectangular wings 12 are perpendicularly disposed with respect to the back 30 of the shirt and hold the sides 31 of the collar in an upstanding neat and orderly manner. The body of the tongue 19 is securely held between the front 33 of the Patented Dec. 16, 1958 shirt and the back 30 thereof as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In order to adjust the stay to fit shirt collars of various sizes, the stay may be folded forwardly in the inner dotted lines 35 to form the fold or pleat 36 and then folded backwardly at 37 to form the forward fold or pleat 38. When the stay is thus folded, its inherent resiliency will tend to cause the pleats to unfold so that an outward thrust exists as indicated by arrows 40 in Fig. 4. The stay portions 12 will tend to assume the dotted line positions shown in Fig. 4. When the stay is inserted in the collar of a new or laundered shirt the stay is effectively secured in the collar by the position of the tongue 19 underlying the front of the shirt and by the engagement of the ends 14 against the rear of the collar due to the outward thrust of the flexible folds 36, 38. The secure engagement of the stay in the collar insures that the collar retains its upstanding, neat and orderly form under all normal conditions of handling and storage until the shirt is ready to be worn.

The stay may be re-used in other shirts. If the stay is to be used in a shirt of different collar size, either smaller or larger than the previous shirt, the self-expanding folds 36, 38 automatically conform the stay to the particular collar size encountered, and the stay fits snugly, securely, and permanently until removed.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent 1s:

A collar holder consisting of an elongated fiat strip of sheet material, said strip being stifily resilient and including a symmetrical body having generally rectangular outer wings tapering inwardly at the central portion thereof, a tongue depending from said central portion, said tongue having an elongated body formed with aligned slits at its upper end to define a narrow connecting section to said central portion, the outer free ends of the strip being serrated, and two pairs of transverse folds in the wings, one of said pairs being located on each side of the central portion, intermediate the ends of the wings, the folds in each pair of folds being reversely turned, said folds being inherently resilient to tend to thrust said wings outwardly in the direction of their planes, said tongue being foldable along said connecting section to a position perpendicular to said central portion, said wings being disposable in arcuate fashion to lie snugly along the upstanding sides of a collar of a folded laundered shirt with the free ends of the strip thrust against the back inner side of the collar and with the tongue secured between the front and back of the shirt beyond said collar;

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,705,719 Cousino Mar. 19, 1929 1,803,710 Kliver May 5, 1931 2,147,519 Brownfield Feb. 14, 1939 2,519,380 Kohl et al. Aug. 22, 1950 2,648,470 Calder Aug. 11, 1953 

